Good News Agency – Year II, n° 19
Weekly - Year II, number 19
– 7 December 2001
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
Rome Law-court registration
no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
Good News Agency carries positive and constructive news from all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day.
Good News Agency is distributed through Internet to over 2,400 editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in 46 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Finland, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, and it is also available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
It is a free of
charge service of Associazione Culturale
dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit
educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates
for the development of consciousness and supports the activities of the Lucis
Trust, the Club of Budapest, the Earth Charter, Radio For Peace International
and other organizations promoting a culture of peace in the ‘global village’
perspective based on unity within diversity and on sharing. Via Antagora 10, 00124 Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
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International legislation
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Health
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Human
rights
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Energy
and safety
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Economy
and development
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Culture
and education
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Solidarity
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(TOP)
West Africa: UNHCR and ECOWAS
sign Memorandum of Understanding
24 November - The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on refugee issues, a
statement from UNHCR said on Tuesday. Both parties pledged to tackle
refugee-related issues more "vigorously" by undertaking joint
activities. ECOWAS was represented by its Executive Secretary, Lansana Kouyate,
and UNHCR by the High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers. The MOU, signed in New York,
aims to consolidate refugee protection and address the needs of vulnerable
groups such as women and children in West African countries, the statement
said. The agreement also covers issues such as mitigating the negative impact
of large refugee populations on the environment of hosting countries and
promoting refugee law among governments and civil society.
The signing of the MOU has
come at a time when international efforts are focusing on solving the
instability in some countries in West Africa, particularly member-states in the
Mano River Union which comprises Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, UNHCR noted.
(TOP)
Action Against Terrorism Must Not
Undermine Human Rights, Say High Commissioner For Human Rights, Council Of
Europe And Osce
Geneva/Strasbourg/Warsaw,
29 November - In an unprecedented move, the heads of three leading
inter-governmental human rights bodies today jointly cautioned governments that measures to
eradicate terrorism must not lead to excessive curbs on human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
"While we
recognize that the threat of terrorism requires specific measures, we call on
all governments to refrain from any excessive steps which would violate
fundamental freedoms and undermine legitimate dissent", says a joint
statement issued by Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Walter Schwimmer, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, and
Ambassador Gérard Stoudmann, Director of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights. "In pursuing the objective of eradicating terrorism, it is
essential that States strictly adhere to their international obligations to
uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Responding to
recent worrying developments in some countries, the three international human
rights representatives urged all States to ensure that any measures restricting
human rights in response to terrorism strike a fair balance between legitimate
national security concerns and fundamental freedoms that is fully consistent
with their international law commitments.
They stressed that
some rights may not be derogated from under any circumstances. These include
the right to life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom from
torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the principles of
precision and non-retroactivity of criminal law except where a later law
imposes a lighter penalty. For other rights, any derogation is only
permitted in the special circumstances defined in international human rights
law. "The purpose of anti-terrorism measures is to protect human rights
and democracy, not to undermine these fundamental values of our
societies", the statement concludes.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/
ILO Governing Body's 282nd session targets fundamental
rights
Geneva, 20 November - The International Labour Office
(ILO) Governing Body ended its 282nd session with a
renewed commitment to eradicating forced labour in Myanmar, a decision to set
up a World Commission of 18 eminent persons to examine the social impact
of globalization and a call to end grave and serious violations of freedom of
association in Belarus and Venezuela.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association marked its
50th year in defence of the principal of workers to organize and
engage in collective bargaining.
The Governing Body also agreed on the broad outline of
a technical cooperation programme for Colombia with the goal of creating
mechanisms to safeguard the lives of trade union and business leaders in that
country while strengthening compliance with freedom of association, as well as
improving social protection, working conditions and freedom of enterprise in
Colombia. (…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2001/49.htm
Web
portal invites to promote International Migrants Day, 18 December
Launched
in 1999, the www.december18.net portal
provides a multilingual platform for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants. December
18 also maintains an e-newsletter. All the work is done on a voluntary basis,
bringing together a group of people working together from across the world.
“Celebrate international
migrant's day!” is the organisation’s invitation to reflect and act in support
to the migrants’ rights on the occasion of the
International Migrants Day, which takes place every year on the 18th of
December.
Campaign to end violence against women launched in
CEE/CIS
UNIFEM launched a ‘Regional Public Awareness Campaign for Women’s Rights to a Life Free of Violence’ in the CEE/CIS region. The 18-month media campaign
will take place in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania,
Moldova, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. The goal of the campaign is to
highlight violence against women as a crime and as a violation of human rights.
The campaign will promote better understanding of the causes and consequences
of violence, as well as its social and economic costs. The campaign seeks to
reduce the cases of domestic violence as well as sexual harassment in the
workplace in each of the countries.
The campaign slogan, "A Life Free of Violence – It is Our Right," was adopted from previous
successful UNIFEM campaigns in Latin America and Caribbean, South East Asia and
Africa. (…) Campaign partners include representatives of governmental agencies,
NGOs and crisis centers, journalists, law enforcement agencies, lawyers and
donor agencies.
For more information, please contact Zukhra Sultanova,
CIS Regional Office, at zukhra.sultanova@undp.org
or visit www.nasilie.net
(TOP)
The organic fruit and vegetable market offers
significant potential for countries to increase their export earnings and
diversify their agricultural base, according to a new FAO report titled World
Markets for Organic Fruit and Vegetables.
"Strong and steady growth in the sales of organic
foods have provided these products with a viable and value-added market
niche," said the 312-page report, jointly published by the FAO, the
International Trade Centre and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural
Cooperation. (…)
The report states that, "The economies of many
developing countries are dependent on the export of a relatively small number
of (mostly agricultural) commodities...Diversification of agricultural
production is of utmost importance. Consumption of organic foods is expected to
outgrow domestic production in developed countries, which will leave room for
significant organic imports." This may provide some opportunities to
developing countries. However, the report sounds a note of caution; developing
the organic sector can be difficult and risky, especially since producers often
face regulatory and psychological obstacles relating to consumer's attitudes about
organic food. (…)
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/OIS/PRESS_NE/PRESSENG/2001/pren0190.htm
Cote d'Ivoire: IMF, EU aid to
resume soon
24 November - The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to discuss with the Ivorian government a
three-year programme to reduce poverty and spur economic growth in Cote
d'Ivoire. The decision was based on a recent assessment by an IMF team of a
preliminary six-month economic programme implemented by the West African
nation. The poverty reduction and economic recovery programme would run from
2002 to 2004. The IMF is willing to contribute about 50 percent of the 600
billion to 700 billion CFA (between US $848 million and US $988 million)
needed, the statement said. Meanwhile full economic and financial cooperation
between the European Union and Cote d'Ivoire is likely to resume in January
2002, state television reported a visiting EU delegation as saying on Friday.
The EU partially resumed aid in June 2001.
Both the IMF and the EU
suspended aid following a December 1999 coup d'etat.
Mali: ADF loan for health and
social development
24 November - The African
Development Fund (ADF) has approved a loan of some US $19 million to finance a
health and social development programme in the Sikasso region of southern Mali,
it said in a news release on Wednesday. The project aims to improve
accessibility, especially for women and children under five years, to quality
health care services. It will also support reproductive health programmes,
expanded immunisation programmes and training of health and social development
staff in priority areas, ADF reported. ADF, which focuses mainly on poverty
reduction, is the small-loans branch of the African Development Bank.
http://www.irinnews.org
Making furniture out of re-cycled wood
20 November - Eric Gellerman
is making furniture out of old-growth Douglas fir, 150-year-old white oak, and
Indonesian teak -- and getting kudos from environmentalists for doing so.
Gellerman is cofounder of The Wooden Duck, a furniture store in Berkeley,
Calif., that salvages wood to craft its wares. The environmental benefits
range from the obvious -- the company doesn't depend on logging for its wood --
to the not-so-obvious: Much of the wood used by Gellerman and co. would
otherwise end up in landfills. The company has dismantled everything from
bleachers to railroad ties to make its furniture, and recently begun buying
used South African products made from old-growth Doug fir that was shipped to
Africa in the 1800s. Now the wood is coming home, where The Wooden Duck
will pull it apart and turn it into some of the greenest furniture around.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1119/p19s1-wmcr.html
USD 11.5 million to support the National Community
Based Rural Development Project in Burkina Faso
Rome, 19 November – The International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) and the Government of Burkina Faso signed today a loan agreement on highly concessional terms for
co-financing the National Community Based Rural Development Project. The
Agreement was signed at the Fund's headquarters in Rome by the Vice President of
IFAD, Mr. John Westley, and by Her Excellency H.E. Ms. Béatrice Damiba,
Ambassador of Burkina Faso to Italy.
This loan agreement, which amounts to the equivalent of USD 11.5
million, represents about 10% of the programme. The remainder will be contributed
by the World Bank, the bilateral assistance agencies of Denmark and the
Netherlands, as well as by the Government of Burkina Faso and the beneficiaries
of the project themselves.
The overall development objective of the project is to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development in rural areas of Burkina Faso, thereby breaking the spiral of rural poverty characterized by natural resource degradation, reduced agricultural production and decreased quality of life. IFAD’s contribution will be targeted specifically on village level and inter-village level capacity strengthening and investment activities, support services and actions, and project management and administration. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2001/01-39.htm
A USD 25.5 Million IFAD-Initiated Project to Develop
Livestock and Rural Finance in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rome, 14 November - The
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina today signed a loan agreement on highly concessional terms for
financing the Livestock And Rural Finance Development Project. This
IFAD-initiated project will have a total cost of USD 25.5 million. The
Agreement was signed at the Fund's headquarters in Rome by the Vice President
of IFAD, Mr. John Westley, and by His Excellency Dr Jadranko Prlic, Deputy
Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
The IFAD loan
is in the amount of USD 12 million. The contribution to be made by the
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina will amount to USD 5.6 million and the
beneficiaries of the project will provide the equivalent of USD 2.9 million.
Co-financing in the amount of USD 5 million is being negotiated with the OPEC
Fund. The Livestock and Rural Finance Development Project is IFAD's third
operation in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (…)
In line with IFAD's desire to
adopt a longer-term approach to poverty alleviation in the remote poor
mountainous areas, this third project, over its 6-years implementation period,
represents a transition from emergency aid towards sustainable development of
the rural economy. The project aims at improving food security and income
levels of the rural poor in some 16 of the poorest localities in the country
through strategic focus on the livestock sector. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2001/01-36.htm
A USD 23 million IFAD-Initiated Poverty Reduction
Project in Mauritania
Rome, 16 November - The International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD) and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania signed today a loan agreement on highly concessional terms for
co-financing a Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro regions.
This IFAD-initiated project will have a total cost of USD 23 million. The
Agreement was signed at the Fund's headquarters in Rome by the Vice President
of IFAD, Mr. John Westley, and by His Excellency Mr Hamoud Ould Ely, Ambassador
of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
The Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro is IFAD’s
ninth operation in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, with a total investment
of about USD 64 million, in loans - all extended on highly concessional terms -
and grants. IFAD’s cooperation in the country, which has spanned more
than 20 years, is now oriented towards support for the decentralization process
and the implementation of the national Poverty Reduction Strategy recently
adopted by the government in rural areas. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2001/01-38.htm
(TOP)
Sierra Leone: UNHCR to
relocate IDPs, opens health centres
24 November - The office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sierra Leone plans
to relocate over 7,000 internally displaced Sierra Leoneans from Port Loko
District to their place of origin in the first week of December, the agency
said in its latest information bulletin.
The 7,533 IDPs are slated to
leave the temporary camps where they have been living in the town of Lokomasama
to return home to Kambia District, north of Port Loko. One of the main concerns
of the refugees, UNHCR said, was the education of their children.
WFP
airlifts food into Afghanistan
Islamabad, 23 November – The United Nations World Food Programme today launched
an airbridge into Afghanistan in a bid to bring sufficient quantities of
urgently needed food aid to more than 274,000 desperately hungry people living
in remote locations across northeastern Afghanistan. This is the first time a
humanitarian airlift has been launched from Tajikistan and the first time in
this current crisis that WFP has used aircraft to send food into Afghanistan.
The aircraft, carrying approximately 17 tons of
wheat flour, left Kolyiab airport in southern Tajikistan today. The Hercules
will make the 30-minute flight into Faizabad, the provincial capital of
Badakhshan in northeast Afghanistan, and then return to Kolyiab to reload. It
is envisaged that there will be four flights per day, weather permitting, for
the next few weeks until a total of 2,000 tons has been dispatched to Faizabad.
The food will then be put on trucks and taken to remote areas across
northeastern Afghanistan. (…)
http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/press_releases/index.html#
22 November - The World Food
Programme (WFP) is to provide 482,000 Ghanaians with food aid through 2005 to
support efforts to reduce poverty in Ghana, the UN agency announced on
Wednesday.
Further details: http://www.kabissa.org/kfn/newsletter.php?id=4261
Rotary clubs of Pakistan help
immunize more than 30 million children against polio
Islamabad, Pakistan, 21
November - Nearly one thousand Rotary volunteers from 84 clubs helped vaccinate
more than 30 million children under five years of age against polio during the
recent national immunization day (NID) in Pakistan.
"Much progress has been
made in the fight against this crippling disease over the last year," said
Abdul Haiy Khan, Rotary's national PolioPlus chairman for Pakistan. "Polio
cases have decreased by nearly 65 percent in Pakistan." The Pakistan NID,
launched on 7 November, was synchronized with Afghanistan to ensure that
children among the displaced Afghan population on both sides of the border are
protected from the crippling disease. During the three-day immunization
campaign, Rotary volunteers set up vaccination posts in Afghan refugee camps
and brought the oral polio vaccine door-to-door to ensure that no child was
missed. (…)
According to the World Health
Organization, nine polio cases have been found in Afghanistan in 2001, all in
the Kandahar region, and 69 cases have been found in Pakistan. Of the 442
global polio cases confirmed this year, Pakistan and Afghanistan combined
constitute nearly 20 percent.
Rotary's PolioPlus program has contributed more than US$4 million to the fight against polio in Afghanistan, and more than $13 million toward Pakistan's polio eradication efforts.
New York, 16 November
- The Government of Japan has donated $7.84 million to UNICEF's relief
efforts for the children of Afghanistan, the agency announced today, the
largest emergency contribution UNICEF has ever received from Japan and the
largest it has received from any source for its $36 million appeal for Afghan
relief.
The Japanese contribution, approved Friday 16
November, constitutes 22% of UNICEF's emergency appeal. As winter arrives, the
contribution will provide urgently needed relief supplies to the most
vulnerable children and women inside Afghanistan, as well as to Afghan refugees
in neighbouring countries. Among other things, the gift will provide for the
delivery of warm winter clothing for children and pregnant women, blankets,
supplementary food for malnourished children, essential medicines, shelter
materials, and safe water. To date UNICEF has nearly 50 relief convoys into
Afghanistan. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr89.htm
(TOP)
24 November - Girls' education
and primary health care in Nigeria are to receive a boost of funds from federal
government and UN coffers.
The government is in the process
of establishing 200 health centres, one in each electoral ward, with up to 8000
planned, ThisDay newspaper reported Minister of Information, Jerry Gana as
saying on Thursday. The federal health care project was established following
recent recommendations by the national primary health care authority, the Lagos
newspaper reported.
On the education front, the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) has drawn up a five-year programme to boost girls'
education in six Nigerian states starting next year, Maman Sidikou, head of
UNICEF's education unit in the country told IRIN on Tuesday. (…)
Chad: ADF loan to improve
health care
24 November - The African Development Fund has approved funds of some US $7 million to strengthen the health system and to support the control of HIV/AIDS and epidemic diseases in Chad, a news release said on Wednesday.
The project aims to improve
the health status of the population in general and targets in particular the
central administrative regions of Batha and Biltine and the southern region of
Salamat. It will help in the construction and equipping of health clinics and
in the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing safe blood
transfusions and contributing to the prevention of mother-child transmission.
It will also provide training for health employees in the management of
patients and epidemics, ADF said.
Doha: green light to put
public health first at WTO ministerial conference
22 November - The one hundred
and forty two countries meeting at the 4th World Trade Organization ministerial
conference in Doha (Qatar) clearly affirmed that governments are free to take
all necessary measures to protect public health. Now, if drug companies price
drugs beyond the reach of people who need them, governments can override
patents without the threat of retribution.
http://oxfam.org.uk/whatnew/press/doha2.html
22 November - This is a tool
for searching the internet for updated news on medications, treatments and
vaccines. Sites are listed in categories and further broken down into
subcategories. Once a search is performed, you have the choice to further your
search instantly on the world's major search engines or NEWS headlines sites.
(…) Its online services will be particularly valuable in rural locations where
no local organizations exist. People can log in privately from home and have a
counsellor to chat with or get answers to questions from the online forum.
http://www.HIVAIDSsearch.com/index.htm
http://www.kabissa.org
22 November - Britain's
Department for International Development (DFID) has allocated ActionAid, a
British development charity, 2.95 million pounds sterling (US $4.29 million)
for HIV/AIDS work in Rwanda, DFID reported on Tuesday.
http://www.kabissa.org/kfn/newsletter.php?id=4308
Reducing HIV infection among
youth: What Can Schools Do?
22 November - Although many
program planners see schools as a convenient location for HIV prevention
programs, there is controversy about whether school programs can ever be strong
enough to go beyond improving knowledge and attitudes to increasing the
adoption of safe sexual behaviors. Evaluations of school programs in Mexico,
South Africa, and Thailand focus on this question: Can school HIV programs
change behavior? In each country, local organizations have worked with
educators on teacher training and course design to ensure high-quality school
interventions.
http://www.popcouncil.org/horizons/horizons.html
Life-saving TB drugs arrive
in DPR Korea during WHO Director-General's visit
Beijing, 15 November – The World Health Organization (WHO) today
confirmed the first shipment of life-saving tuberculosis (TB) medicines to the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea this week. The drugs will make it
possible to treat nearly 33,000 people suffering from TB in the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea. Until now, less than a third of those suffering
from the disease had access to adequate treatment.
The supply of TB drugs is
made available through the Global TB Drug Facility (GDF), part of the Stop TB
partnership in WHO. In addition to DPR Korea, 11 other countries will receive
support through the GDF. Launched in March this year, GDF is a global
purchasing and distribution mechanism to expand access to high-quality TB
drugs.
DPR Korea is one of 22
"high burden" countries that account for 80% of the global TB burden.
(…)
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2001/en/pr2001-49.html
(TOP)
Ecuador: World Bank loan
supports project to bring electricity and telecommunications to poor people
Washington,
November 21 - The World Bank's Executive Board yesterday approved a $23 million
loan to support the Government of Ecuador's initiative to modernize the
country's electricity and telecommunications services, extending coverage to
underserved, poor areas, while also increasing efficiency, environmental
management and public consultation in decision-making in both sectors.
The Power and Communications Sectors
Modernization and Rural Services Project (PROMEC), whose total cost is $43
million, will support reforms of legal and regulatory frameworks in both
sectors, while also strengthening regulatory institutions to foster and manage
competition, to ensure that electricity, telephone and internet-related
services are extended to low-income communities, both in rural and peri-urban
areas. It will also support the government's strategy to promote energy
efficiency, and to consult more extensively with the public on sector
regulations and the services they need. (…)
http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf/
Clean energy industry expected
to triple in US Northwest region
19 November - The global
economy may be sagging, but residents of the Pacific Northwest should take
heart: A study released late last week suggests that the region will
benefit from a boom in the next 20 years in the clean energy industry. In
Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, clean energy is currently a $1.4
billion business; the report predicts that in two decades it could nearly
triple, to $4 billion, and employ 12,000 more people. Next year,
construction may be completed on the largest wind-energy source in the world,
at the Columbia River Gorge, on the border between Washington and Oregon.
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/47128_energy17.shtml
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13354/story.htm
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#powerscorecard
Ukraine destroyed its last nuclear missile silo
On 1 November, the Ukraine
destroyed its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the
nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR. Under the
US-Ukrainian Cooperative Threat Reduction, the silo was blown up at a military
range in the southern Mykolaiv region near Pervomaisk. The land
underneath the silo will now be cleaned up and converted to agricultural use.
In 1991, the Ukraine inherited
the word's third largest nuclear stockpile, including 130 SS-19 missiles, 46
SS-24 missiles and dozens of strategic bombers. After renouncing nuclear
weapons, the Ukraine transferred all its nuclear missiles and warheads to
Russia by 1996. Nuclear materials from the warheads were reprocessed and sent
back to the Ukraine for use as fuel in nuclear power plants.
The Moscow Times
The
Sunflower, sunflower-napf@yahoogroups.com
(TOP)
World Aids Day to be observed at
UN Headquarters on 30 November
Role of volunteerism to be
highlighted
New York, 26
November - The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) and the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) are organizing an
observance of World AIDS Day, to take place on 30 November 2001. The programme,
a town-hall meeting, will follow the theme designated by UNAIDS for this year’s World AIDS Campaign, “I
Care… Do You?”, and will also highlight 2001 as the International Year of
Volunteers . (…) Key themes will be leadership, outreach to and by young
people, volunteerism, and the involvement and power of celebrities as well as
the media.
In
conjunction with the observance, the Department of Public Information has
arranged a screening of “Together We Can:
Youth against AIDS in South Africa”, a documentary film by Jacqueline
Fox. The film is an independent
production supported in part by DPI; it commemorates the life and death of
Nkosi Johnson, a young South African boy who became a national symbol of hope,
and examines ways in which schoolchildren, the Government, non-governmental
organizations and the rural community are fighting to contain the spread of
HIV/AIDS in South Africa. (…)
World AIDS Day was established
on 1 December 1988 by the World Health Organization, and its annual observance
was mandated by General Assembly resolution A/43/15. Since its establishment in 1996, UNAIDS has expanded the single
day’s observance into a year-long World AIDS Campaign, with World AIDS Day as a
focal point.
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/note5699.doc.htm
Thai students back good governance in TV broadcast
Friday, 23 November 2001: On "Voice for
the Future", a live broadcast on Thai television this month, high school
students from Bangkok aired their views on the roles of students and
administrators in promoting good governance in schools.
The broadcast gave the students, who are elected
members of their schools' student committee councils, the opportunity to
discuss how schools are run. The students recommended a participatory approach,
with accountability, and transparency in both school administration and student
activities. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
UNESCO welcomes proclamation of 2002 as United Nations Year For Cultural
Heritage
Paris, November 22 - UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura has
welcomed yesterday’s proclamation of the year 2002 as United Nations Year
for Cultural Heritage by the United Nations General Assembly and the decision
to designate UNESCO as the lead agency for the Year.
Speaking in his capacity as the head of the UN organization in charge of
protecting, safeguarding and enhancing the world’s heritage, Mr.
Matsuura declared: “The
proclamation should help UNESCO gain recognition for the importance of cultural
heritage preservation. I hope it will stimulate Member States to undertake
significant activities and measures to safeguard their heritage. People all
over the world need to be made aware of the importance of cherishing our varied
heritage, both the treasures of our physical cultural heritage and the
intangible heritage of traditions and cultural practices. In learning to
appreciate and value our own heritage, we can learn to appreciate the heritage
of other cultures. This is an essential step towards ensuring peaceful dialogue
and mutual understanding. Furthermore, heritage preservation is essential if we
are to retain the wealth of our cultural diversity and ensure that the world is
enriched rather than impoverished by globalization.”
(…)
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2001/01-127e.shtml
University of Kinshasa conference builds partnership
against poverty
21November - More than 1,000 students and faculty
gathered at a recent conference at the University of Kinshasa on governance, poverty
eradication and access to new technologies -- focus areas for UNDP in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Progress on these priorities is vital
as the country emerges from conflict that ravaged the entire region since 1998.
The conference brought together researchers and
scientists to discuss key human development issues and "stimulate
interaction between the university community and the UN system for a
partnership in the fight against poverty," said Bouri Sanhouidi, UNDP
Resident Representative.
Mr. Sanhouidi discussed ways that new technologies can
work for human development, the theme of the global UNDP Human Development Report 2001. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
New York, 20 November - Broadcasters in Kenya and
Colombia left the stage at the 29th International Emmy Awards on Monday with
special Emmys for their promotion of children's rights and children's
participation in broadcasting.
ACE Communications (Kenya) and Canal Capital -
Imaginario (Colombia) won the awards for their outstanding contributions to the
2001 "Say Yes for Children Campaign" and the 2000 International
Children's Day of Broadcasting, respectively. The awards were presented by
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Roger Moore and UNICEF Advocate Kristina Tholstrup
at the 29th International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City Monday night. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr91.htm
New York, 20 November - In a ceremony today at the
United Nations, UNICEF and FIFA (the world governing body of football),
announced a global alliance for children. FIFA will dedicate the 2002 World Cup
to children under the banner of "Say Yes for Children." This is the
first time a World Cup has ever been dedicated to a humanitarian cause. The alliance
will call for: “Changing the world with children”. A major focus of this alliance will be to put
children at the forefront of people's minds and get people involved in changing
the world with children. (…)
"I am very much looking forward to this
cooperation with UNICEF," FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter said. "It
is FIFA's obligation as a global sports organization to help children all over
the world, because football offers fun and hope based on tolerance, respect and
fair play."
"We are very excited about this partnership with
FIFA," said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "It is not the
first time that UNICEF and football have joined forces. The game has been
helping us to 'Kick Polio out of Africa,' and several of our Goodwill
Ambassadors are current or former football stars who are working tirelessly to
build a world fit for children."
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr90.htm
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Next issue: 21
December 2001
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